Not all of the dolphins have been so happy to kick back though, with little Zephyr using the time to practice his own hunting skills!  Finding a pufferfish in the crystal clear waters of the feed area, Shadow's cheeky little calf teases the little fish until it puffs right up, then turns it into his very own game of catch, tossing it into the air!

It's great to see the calves becoming more and more independent, and as Phoenix's first birthday rapidly approaches, we can't wait to see what the next couple of months bring.

Stay tuned! 

What a wonderful week for whale watching! Guests were pleasantly surprised when a pod of 3 sub adult humpback whales decided to put on a show that would impress all on board. The playfull trio rolled, splashed, pectoral waved and tail slapped as they cruised beside the Tangalooma whale watching vessel, but no one was expecting what was going to happen next...

The three whales turned direction and swam directly under our boat, as they rose to the surface to breathe one whale rolled on to its side and started waving at the boat within metres of our bewildered eyes. The whale then dived below the water and within inches of the vessel rose its head up clear out of the water and gazed curiously as we watched on.

The three whales then put on a wonderful display of breaches before waving us good bye with inverted tail slaps and peduncle throws as the young whales rolled and wrestled with one another. 

The latest addition to Tangalooma's family of wild bottlenose dolphins has been named Zephyr! We believe little Zephyr is a boy and he is already starting to assert his dominance, especially with Phoenix who is 2 months older than him. This week the dolphins have all been very active and social with each other.  As we had a lot of sea weed in the area, Storm, Phoenix, Zephyr and Echo were picking up pieces, throwing it to each other, and chasing each other around the feed area.

With the westerly winds blowing up this week, the dolphins had a great time surfing in the waves, but sadly the westlery winds bring in a lot of  rubbish that floats in from Brisbane, so the dolphin care staff had to continually collect the rubbish whilst they were out in the water so it would not harm the dolphins.

Our young subadult Storm was playfully tossing some seaweed around the feed area, only to have our older, more mature male Nari swim over and steal it from him! Nari then continued to chase Storm until the feed started. Even though this kind of behaviour can be quite shocking to us, it is an important way for dolphins to assert dominance over one another and strengthen the bonds within the group.

Again large schools of mullet swam through the dolphin feed area.  Shadow, Tangles, Nari, Tinkerbell and Echo were all in the feed area at the time, and were hunting and catching the mullet.

As we only every feed the dolphins a very small amount of their daily intake, we generally always see the dolphins hunting their own food before, during and after the feed.

Last night Bobo entered the feed area with an unknown dolphin. Generally, he always arrives and departs the feed area by himself.   We believe that Bobo does not associate with any of the other dolphins that visit Tangalooma outside of the feeding programme.  Bobo probably has his own male alliance (group) that he interacts with when he is not at the feed.   The unknown dolphin that came into the feed with Bobo last night may be a dolphin from Bobo's group.

We've been keeping a steady track of the dugongs on the eco-cruises this week, observing a sizeable herd of 30-40 individuals down on Moreton Banks at the southern end of the island. We're fortunate enough to have extensive beds of seagrass growing amongst the shallow water here (comprising the main part of the dugong's diet), and the Banks are particularly abundant. We were even lucky enough to see two mothers with juvenile calves, cruising side by side.

Fantastic conditions for the Whale Watching this week afforded us several impressive sightings of the majestic Humpback Whales as well. Thursday afternoon saw our Whale Watching vessel,  the Tangalooma Jet, encountering a big, beautiful female with her 1-2 year old calf. For the best part of an hour, the pair cruised alongside our boat, with the inquisitive and playful calf continuously breaching out of the water.

It's shaping up to be yet another fantastic Whale Watching season here at Tangalooma!

Last night the dolphins showed off their impressive hunting prowess to an eager crowd, and Shadow's baby boy was leading the way! After catching a small queen fish, he started an enthusiastic game of cat and mouse - letting the fish go briefly to only catch again in a few moments time. It's great to see the young calves practicing their hunting technique; even though it often appears to be a simple game, it will be vitally important and crucial to their survival once they become more independent of their mothers.   

On Saturday 4th July we were lucky enough to welcome two Sea Shepherd crew members to Tangalooma Island Resort.

The Crew members offered a presentation to Tangalooma guests, and spoke about Sea Shepherd campaigns such as; anti-whaling, illegal fishing, shark poaching, sealing and the marine habitat destruction.  They also provdided an insight into the life onboard the Steve Irwin MY during anti-whaling seasons in the Antarctica.

The Sea Shepherd battles are numerous and the scope is worldwide.

Sea Shepherd have realised that many people around the world want action.  They want results.  More and more people want to see that endangered species are being protected, that threatened habitats are being defended.

Sea Shepherd believe that the Blue Fin tuna in the Mediterranean will become extinct within the next 3 years due to over fishing in the area.

We would like to thank the Sea Shepherd crew for taking the time to come over to the resort,k an insight to this information has touched quite a few hearts.

For more information, you can visit the Sea Shepherd website www.seashepherd.org

Once again the south westerly winds transformed the feed area into a playground for the dolphin's last night. Shadow's baby boy (soon to have a name!) was enjoying surfing amongst the waves created by the wind, taking some lessons from his auntie, 19 year old Tinkerbell. Not to be outdone, Tangles also joined in the fun, playfully tossing a piece of drifting seaweed over her back.

As we had South Westerly winds blowing up during the feed last night, the dolphins were very active and were having lots of fun surfing the waves into the shore.

Sadly though, when South Westerly winds are blowing,  rubbish gets blown across Moreton Bay and last night lots of plastic bags and other rubbish was floating around the feed area.  To the staff's horror, the dolphins started to play with the plastic bags etc, with one of the dolphins swimming around with a plastic bag on its dorsal fin, and even the calves were trying to eat it.  Staff quickly entered the water and collected of all the rubbish.

You can help the dolphins and all marine creatures by always placing your  rubbish in the bin  and never throw your rubbish on the ground or into our rivers and oceans. 

Silhouette was displaying a behaviour called spy hopping last night.

This is when the dolphin will stick its head out of the water to have a good look around.  Dolphins have very good eyesight above and below the water, and they can do this by manipulating their eye lens.